About the BVT

What activitiers does it offer?

At various times, the Trust offers a selction of these activities, mostly staffed by its own team of Instructors and Activity Assistants, except where is joins with other specialist groups:

SAILING  ~  HILL WALKING  ~  ORIENTEERING  ~  CAVING ~ VISITS TO PLACES OF INTEREST  ~ ANNUAL ACTIVITY WEEK ~ CANOEING  ~  ARCHERY  ~  TARGET SHOOTING  ~  FIRST AID ~  ROCK CLIMBING ~  ICE SKATING  ~  CAMPING ~ FAMILY HIKES  ~  VENTURE AWARDS (and support with outside awards) ~ PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES (Senior Members)  ~  RESIDENTIAL COURSES ~  SPECIALIST ACTIVITIES with other clubs - SUB-AQUA and  PARACHUTING.

How is the BVT able to do this?

The Burton Venture Trust is a voluntary Registered Charity (No. 507895) based in Burton upon Trent. Its aims are to support families and young people in the Burton area by providing recreational, educational and outdoor activities to broaden their experience and extend their potential. Its activities are open to any family living in, or near to, the East Staffordshire area.

Is the BVT a religious organisation?

The BVT is not a religious organisation nor is its purpose to evangelise. However, many of the staff are practising Christians and their voluntary work with the BVT is one way in which they try to live out their vocation to serve one another.

The Christian faith underpins the clear expectations we have of those who participate in our activities. We expect good moral behaviour from everyone. Our aim is to show that a life based on such values is one that achieves fulfilment and we hope that the example we try and set and the opportunities we provide for them will inspire the youngsters in their future lives.

So how did it all start?

The Trust's beginnings go back to 1967 when a small church based youth group was initially formed.

This proved very popular and successful when it began organising camps and outdoor activities for local youngsters.


Over the years this group developed into progressively larger organisations:

1967 - 1970                          Voluntary Youth Group
1971 - 1979                          Burton Adventure Club
1979 - present day              Burton Venture Trust

Between 1967 and 2007, the Trust organised a total of 50 week long camps.  This included 42 Annual Camps which were enjoyed by over 5,000 local young people. The last 32 camps were held at the Coven Outdoor Centre where over 100 youngsters took part each year. Over various years, the Trust also organised week long sailing, hillwalking/camping and pony riding camps.  Currently, the Trust has an ongoing project to digistise all the archived film, videos, press cuttings, photograpgs and records from these four decades and it is hoped that this task will be finished in 2011 when the material can then be made available to past members.

In 2008 the Annual Camp was replaced by an Annual Activity Week which now consists of five different outdoor activity day and is open to all members who can book any of these days from just one to the whole week.

Over the last four decades the Trust has established a reputation for its professionalism and safety when working with local youngsters. Its 20 strong voluntary staffing team receive training to support the many hours of voluntary work they carry out to staff the Trust's activity programme.  Betweem them, they collectively have many hours of experience and a wide range of skills which ensures that children are safe when on activities.

Many of the current staff have grown up in the organisation and are happy to give back a little of what the Trust gave them in their early years.

Between 1972 and 1984 the Trust had a successful Folk Group called 'Faith & Folk' who produced two LP albums, launched at the time by BBC newscaster Stewart White.  This group recorded two very successfull LP albums and evidence of its success can be seen in the picture gallery of this site.

The Trust makes full use of technology to communicate with its members and uses this to keep membership costs to a minimum.

The Trust is open to any family or young person in the Burton area regardless of race, religion, gender or age. All that is required for membership is a willingness to leave behind the games consoles, televisions and join us to make new friends and enjoy the excitement and challenges of the outdoors.

As a charity and within the limits of resources available, the Trust is able to offer support to families in need.  If you are in this position and may not be able to afford activities, just give us a ring for a confidential chat.